Dressed in partial costumes, dozens of children crowded onto the stage for Picayune On Stage’s dress rehearsal Thursday evening.
Some had trouble remembering where they were supposed to stand on stage, while others showed propensity in line memorization, only requesting reminders now and again.
Picayune On Stage Secretary Donna Aguilard said dress rehearsals are going well for this year’s holiday production of A Fairy Tale Christmas Carol, which is essentially a combination of holiday themed tales, combined with fairy tale characters. However, both schools had concerts Thursday night, leading to gaps in the cast which makes remembering lines harder. She is confident that by next week, the play will be ready for public viewing.
In the mash up of fictional universes, Ebenezer Scrooge is portrayed as a big bad wolf, whose sister is the Ugly Duckling, whose son is Jack from the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale.
True to the title, Scrooge is portrayed as an unfriendly miser who must face his influence in the world through interactions with the three ghosts of Christmas. Each actor in the play will be suited up as a fairy tale character, so some of the dialogue will also play tribute to their original story lines.
Aguilard said the cast and crew has been working on the production for the past six weeks, and there’s only a week left until the cast takes the stage in front of a live audience.
A majority of the cast is made up of children ranging in age from 2 to 15-years-old and each has a varying part in the production. Some are characters in the story line, while a number of others are featured in a series of dance numbers that help segue into the next scene. Aguilard said that every child that auditioned for the play was given a part with lines. Children in this year’s production attend the Picayune and Pearl River County school districts.
While the play will primarily follow the script written by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus, Aguilard said Picayune On Stage Director Tara Poolson made some minor modifications to add Humpty Dumpty and Peter Pan, and some singing parts for Little Red Riding Hood.
The show will be held at the Roseland Park Elementary’s Community Room, which is capable of seating 500 people. It has a 20×40 stage and state-of-the-art sound and lighting system, Aguilard said.
There will be three showings of the production, beginning on Dec. 9 and running to that Sunday on Dec. 11. Showings on Friday and Saturday will be at 6 p.m., while Sunday’s showing will be a matinee beginning at 2 p.m.
Tickets to the show are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for children younger than 18.
Aguilard would like to thank the Picayune School District for allowing Picayune on Stage to use their facility.